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About the author

Richard Carleton Hacker

Contributing Wine, Spirits, and Cigars Editor

Richard Carleton Hacker is an international writer and photographer specializing in spirits, wines, cigars, and related luxury lifestyles. In addition to having authored 11 books published in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Russia, he is a long-time contributing editor for numerous national magazines, including Robb Report, for which he has written since 1995. He is also a popular keynote speaker on whiskies and cigars for corporations such as Ritz-Carlton, Alfred Dunhill, and Blancpain, and is a judge for the prestigious annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

A lifetime member of the Scotch whisky industry’s exclusive Keeper of the Quaich honorary society (he is one of fewer than 200 people worldwide to hold the coveted title of Master of the Quaich), he has also been inducted into the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne, and was knighted in Germany. More of his writings and adventures can be found at www.richardcarletonhacker.com.

Most single-malt Scotch is aged in either ex-bourbon barrels or sherry casks, or a combination of both. Depending on the geographic origin of the oak, each imparts its own distinctive flavors to the...

Domaine Carneros ’ 2005 Le Rêve (“the dream”) by Taittinger ($95) is the 14th vintage of the Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine that Claude Taittinger dreamed of creating in California to match the style...

Russians invented vodka centuries ago, but the U.S. government only recognized the clear spirit (which was deemed odorless and tasteless) as a separate spirit category in 1951. Since then, distillers...

Japan is the second-largest producer of single-malt whiskey in the world; however, its whiskeys have only recently become known in America, primarily in the form of Suntory distillery’s Yamazaki 12-...

Although we tend to think of bourbon as robust and Cognac as more refined, these two brown spirits share many traits. Their production is heavily regulated; both are aged in oak barrels; and each has...